1. American Government Chapter 25
Section 1
Counties, Towns, and Townships

2. San Bernardino County, CA
The Counties
Stats – county size
EXTREMES
San Bernardino County, CA
20,064 square miles
Kalawao County, Hawaii
13 square miles

3. Stats – population
Los Angeles County, CA
9 million people
Loving County, Texas
150 people

4. Powers of Typical County Govt.
Executive Power
Levy taxes
Appropriate funds
Legislative Power
Supervising road programs
Managing county property

5. Elected County Officials Titles & Job Description
Sherriff
Keeps jail and furnishes police protection
Clerk
Registers and records documents, mortgages
Assessor
Appraises property
Treasurer
Keeps county funds
Auditor
Keeps financial records

6. About 2 million people throughout the U.S. work in county government
Titles & Jobs Cont.
District Attorney
Chief lawyer for the county
Coroner
Investigates deaths
About 2 million people throughout the U.S. work in county government

7. Functions performed by county governments
1. keep peace
2. collect taxes
3. spend funds
4. build/repair roads & bridges
5. maintain schools
6. record deeds
7. licenses
8. etc.

8. Towns New England towns
They have been the major unit of local government for hundreds of years; its meetings are examples of direct democracy

9. Townships Differences
In NY, NJ, PA: townships where formed where people settled, so they are not uniform in shape
From Ohio westward; townships are uniform in shape because they were drawn in federal public land surveys

10. Townships cont. States are divided into townships
How big is a township?
36 square miles (6 miles square)
Each township is divided into sections which are each 1 mile square
Sections can be divided into smaller lots (Half Section-320 acres, Quarter Sections-160 acres, Half Quarters-80 acres)

11. Jobs of Special Districts
1. provide water, sewage and electrical service
2. furnish fire and police protection
3. build and maintain libraries, parks, schools etc.

12. Terms Borough - the main unit of local government in Alaska County
- the main unit of local government in most of the U.S.
Special District
- an independent unit of local government
Parish
- the main unit of local government in Louisiana
Townships
- Mainly in the Midwest – counties are divided into subunits that share the duties of local government